Thursday, October 17, 2002

DAREDEVIL MOVIE UPDATE

Gary Foster, producer of the Daredevil movie, told The Continuum that Jennifer Garner's athletic ability was important to her playing Elektra.

"She is fantastic! She has athletic and gymnastic abilities that saved
our ass," Foster told The Continuum on Wednesday. "If we came up with a shot during the day that she had not rehearsed, she'd jump right in and in most cases would pull it off huge.

"I honestly don't think we could have done half the stuff with Elektra in this movie with many other actresses."

This week, Garner was give an Emerging Talent award from Premiere Magazine. The star of television's Alias, Garner's next film role is in Catch Me if You Can.

On Wednesday, Fox released two images for Daredevil, including one of Garner and another of Ben Affleck as Matt Murdock and Joe Pantoliano as Ben Urich.

Foster said that Friday, Nov. 1 remains the date for the new Daredevil trailer.

"We are very excited about it," Foster said. "Standees and poster art should be up as well. Nov. 1 the onslaught begins!"

DC COMICS FIRST LOOKS

For covers and four-page previews of DC Comics titles arriving in stores on Wednesday, CLICK HERE.

IMAGE COMICS FIRST LOOKS

NEW ANGEL EPISODE

A new episode of Angel, "Slouching Toward Bethlehem," will air on The WB on Sunday, Oct. 27.

Here's how the network describes the issue:

"Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) returns, but since she has no memory of who she is or that Angel (David Boreanaz) is a vampire, everyone tries to keep their demon-hunting business a secret. After rescuing Cordelia from a demon, Connor (Vincent Kartheiser) takes on the role of her protector and Lorne (Andy Hallett) reads Cordelia's future to help restore her memory but sees an approaching apocalypse involving Angel."

Jeffrey Bell wrote the episode, which was directed by Skip Schoolnik.

Click on the thumbnails for larger images from the episode.

STARMAN TELEVISION UPDATE

The Continuum has obtained several details about the Starman television series in development.

ABC has ordered a pilot script for a series from Tollin-Robbins Productions, the studio behind Smallville and Birds of Prey. John Gatins, who wrote Hardball, is writing the pilot script, and Tollin-Robbins' Joe Davola, Brian Robbins, and Mike Tollin are executive producing.

The show will be set in Opal City, and like the comics series by James Robinson and Tony Harris, will feature Jack Knight, who becomes a super-hero after his brother, the previous Starman, is "mysteriously" killed.

Ted Knight, Jack's father, will be a character in the series.

There will be a "cosmic device," but it's unclear if it will be called the Cosmic Rod.

Neither Robinson nor Harris is currently involved, but that could change. The producers of Starman brought comics writer Jeph Loeb on board for Smallville and sources tell The Continuum another comics creator might become involved with Birds of Prey.

There has been no casting yet.

SMALLVILLE RATINGS

Smallville continued to achieve its best-ever ratings performances with Tuesday's episode, "Red."

The episode, written by Jeph Loeb, led The WB to a No. 1 finish among all networks for the night in adults 18-34 (4.5 rating/13 share), women 18-34 (5.3/15), men 18-34 (3.6/11), persons 12-34 (4.6/14), women 12-34 (5.4/16), men 12-34 (3.7/12), teens (4.9/16), female teens (5.7/18) and male teens (4.1/14).

The ratings made Smallville television's top-rated show on Tuesday in adults 18-34 (5.4/15), women 18-34 (5.9/16), men 18-34 (4.9/15), persons 12-34 (5.5/16), women 12-34 (5.7/16), men 12-34 (5.2/16), teens (5.7/19) and male teens (6.0/20). It was also No. 1 in its time period in female teens (5.3/17).

REDUCED PRICE ON FABLE COLLECTED EDITION

DC Comics has announced that December's Fables: Legends in Exile Trade Paperback, solicited with a retail price of $14.95, instead will carry a price of $9.95.

"This collected edition will give readers the chance to catch up on those early, sold-out Fables stories," said Vince Letterio, DC's manager -
Direct Sales. "With this lower price point, we hope to put more copies of the book on retailers' shelves and into their customers' hands."

Fables: Legends in Exile collects Fables #1-5, the first four issues of which are sold out at DC. These issues are written by Bill Willingham, with art by Lan Medina, Steve Leialoha and Craig Hamilton, and the original series covers by James Jean and Alex Maleev.

This collection also includes a new Fables prose story by Willingham - with picture book-style illustrations also by Willingham, plus a new, painted cover by James Jean.

"This is great news," Willingham said. "Now many more readers can afford it, and those of you planning to give this collection out as Christmas presents this year can now include those iffy friends and relatives who you have to get something for, but don't quite like well-enough for an over-ten-dollar gift. See? Bringing families back together is just another wonderful aspect of the magical world of Fables."

DC also announced that Fables Annual #1 is in the works for next
summer. The 64-page Annual will be written by Willingham with art by P. Craig Russell, Hamilton and Willingham.

"Fables was among the most talked-about book at the conventions this
summer, and the momentum keeps on growing," said Karen Berger, VP -
Executive Editor, Vertigo. "Bill's created a unique blend of the urban
and fantastic, and I've been really impressed with his building of such a
multi-layered and compelling world. The characters are unpredictable and
riveting, and I can't wait for the next script to arrive, so I can see
what happens next. I'm completely hooked, and I expect more readers will
catch on with the release of the collection."